Comic Book Reviews for 2/6/13

What a huge week for comics. Not only did the Rotworld storyline in Animal Man and Swamp Thing conclude, but Marvel dumped a truckload of new comics on us, including new series Fearless Defenders, the conclusion of Hit-Girl, and the continuation of some of its biggest books like Avengers, New Avengers, All-New X-Men, and Superior Spider-Man.

Perhaps most exciting however, is that Oliver Queen -- Green Arrow -- has finally gotten some new life breathed into his ongoing series courtesy of new creative team Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino,

In case you missed it last week, IGN Community reviews are back -- that means anything we haven't covered here is up for grabs and your review could be featured in the IGN Comics review round-up. For all the details on how that's going to work, check out Joey's post here.

DC COMICS

Animal Man #17

"This issue amounts to a whole lot of action that leads to a shocking “surprise” that isn’t all that surprising. Then again, the action is orchestrated by two of DC’s hottest writers -- Jeff Lemire and Scott Snyder -- so when Steel cuts loose on Cyborg, Buddy takes on Flash, and Swamp Thing trades blows with Superman, you can bet it feels earned and is delivered with snappy dialogue. But who steals the show is Frankenstein, and since he’s one of Lemire’s golden boys, it definitely isn’t all that surprising." -Joshua

7.7

Detective Comics #17

Written by John Layman | Art by Jason Fabok

"John Layman has been doing a solid job of tying into Death of the Family without becoming overly beholden to that crossover. Unfortunately, this pseudo tie-in arc fizzles out in its final chapter. There's little sense of conflict or danger in the showdown between Batman and the Merrymaker, forcing the former to fill the gap with unnecessary chatter. That's been a recurring problem with Layman's run to some degree or another. His Batman is strangely talkative. This issue is crammed with both actual dialogue and narration, both of which serve largely to summarize Batman's deductions and wrap up the plot with a neat little bow. There had to have been a more elegant way to deliver this information overload." -Jesse

6.2

Earth 2 #9

Written by James Robinson | Art by Nicola Scott

"The debut of Dr. Fate is handled with a restraint rarely seen in DC’s books these days. In fact, you don’t even see him in costume or hear his name the entire issue in lieu of getting to know the man under the helmet first. Khalid is a cool-headed young man who fears the power of Nabu, and while he’s not the most engaging character I’ve ever read, writer James Robinson uses him to get Dr. Fate’s New 52 debut off to a good start." -Joshua

7.8

Green Arrow #17

Written by Jeff Lemire | Art by Andrea Sorrentino

"It looks as though Ollie's lot is finally changing. He's about to join the new Justice League of America squad, and he's getting another new creative team change in his solo series. But not just any batch of creators. Green Arrow #17 marks the debut of Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino on the series. One issue is hardly enough to completely reverse 18 months of disappointing comics, but it's a good start." -Jesse

8.4

The Phantom Stranger #5

"Phantom Stranger continues to benefit from the addition of co-writer J.M. DeMatteis to the creative team. DeMatteis is able to smooth over many of the rough edges in the dialogue that so often brought down earlier issues. The series is still occasionally clunky and awkward in its delivery, but the characters also display far more nuance and depth than they had before. It's much easier to sympathize with Phantom Stranger when you aren't cringing at every other line." -Jesse

6.5

Stormwatch #17

Written by Peter Milligan | Art by Will Conrad

"You gotta love it when a hero goes bad. Peter Milligan has carefully crafted a tale that has transformed Angie the Engineer into an uber-powerful baddie, and watching the remnants of the team struggle to take on their ex-leader makes for a pretty decent comic book. There’s some cheesy dialogue and a few instances of weak motivations for extreme actions, but the general direction of this book’s quality is definitely upward." -Joshua

7.0

Swamp Thing #17

Written by Scott Snyder & Jeff Lemire | Art by Andy Belanger

"You remember how, at the end of almost every A-Team episode, the drums, horns and strings would kick in, and the guys would build some sort of tank out of what they had lying around to overcome staggering numbers of armed bad guys? Well try to imagine how jarring it would be if the music that played was 'Heigh-Ho' from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves instead. That’s what the decision to use an artist with a cartoony style for the last installment of Rotworld amounts to." -Poet

5.5

Young Romance: New 52 Valentine's Day Special #1

Written by Various | Art by Various

"Don't let the title fool you. DC's Young Romance: New 52 Valentine's Day Special contains precious little actual romance. Four of the six stories included in the issue feature a rejection of some kind, and of the remaining two, one ends on a decidedly tragic note. While it’s true that the dating game must be difficult when one spends their nights gallivanting about town fighting crime in skintight spandex, it’s a curious ratio of failure to success for a compilation that bills itself as a Valentine’s Day special." -Melissa